Armenian Air Force to be re-equipped with SU-30SM fighter jets within few months

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Air Force will be re-equipped with Russian SU-30SM fighter jets in a few months, Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan revealed. He said the aircraft will be delivered to Armenia either yearend 2019 or in the first two months of 2020.

“The aircraft will arrive either in December or January-February,” he said, adding that this was the initially planned timeframe.

Earlier unconfirmed reports suggested that Armenia will buy 4 units of the jets, but Tonoyan did not specify the number.

TheSukhoi Su-30is a Russian-madetwin-engine, two-seatsupermaneuverablefighter aircraft. It is a multirole fighter for all-weather,air-to-airandair-to-surface deep interdictionmissions.

The Su-30SM (SM for Serial, Modernized) is considered a 4+ generation fighter jet.The aircraft has been upgraded for radar, radio communications systems,friend-or-foe identification system, ejection seats, weapons, and other aircraft systems.

It has frontal horizontal fins and steerable thrusters forsupermaneuverability.

The aircraft can be used to gainair supremacysame as for targeting adversary on the ground using wide range of weapons including air-to-air, air-to-surface and guided and unguided bombs with total weapons weight up to 8000 kg.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan